The co-op employment rates for the fall 2024 work term have now been released and show a zero-point five per cent decrease from the fall term of 2023. Additionally, over 100 more students were participating in recruitment this past work term than in 2023, raising the number to over 7,600. 

UW is well known for its co-op program and the opportunities that it grants students after graduation. While some students have had varied experiences using Waterloo Works to obtain co-ops and internships, the numbers generally show consistent employment of most students in the programme for each term.

In the fall 2024, the overall employment rate for all faculties combined was 96.8 per cent. For students in the first work term, that number increased to 97.2 per cent and stayed the same for students, not in their first term of the co-op programme.  

Most of the students participating in the co-op programme are either in the faculty of engineering or mathematics, however, even faculties representing fewer than 1,000 of the total participants had an employment rate of over 95 per cent in the fall 2024 work term.

Despite this consistent success across the board, it should be noted that there has been a decrease in the employment rate since the fall 2023. With a low over the spring term of 2024 with the employment rate being 93.2 per cent, numbers have not yet gone back up to the prior year’s rate. 

UW’s co-op program sends students all over the world for their placements, which is another reason that many potential students choose Waterloo for its co-op opportunities. The fall 2024 semester showed that European countries, such as the UK and Spain, received an influx of students finding work there. Canada and the U.S., however, still remained dominantly in the top two locations for students to find their co-op placements.